Justin Barcia Dominates En Route to Victory at Phoenix Supercross

With plenty of hype surrounding Justin Barcia this year in his first season competing in the 450SX class, he solidified himself as a championship contender with a win at Phoenix supercross, turning in a dominant effort throughout the night.

After winning his qualifying heat by more than 8 seconds, Barcia got off to a quick start in the Main Event, taking the holeshot. From there, he checked out with the lead and didn't look back. Barcia won the Monster Energy Cup a few months back, but tonight's performance marked his first official career 450SX victory.

Last week's winner Davi Millsaps ran behind Barcia for the first 13 laps of the race before being passed by Trey Canard. Millsaps then lost 3rd place to Ryan Villopoto two laps later, losing the points lead to Canard in the process. After taking over 2nd, Canard cut his teammate Barcia's lead down to under 6 seconds, but crashed on the race's final lap. Unable to remount quickly, Canard faded back to 5th as Villopoto, Millsaps and Chad Reed all made their way around him. All four riders had been battling for position behind Barcia throughout the race, and Canard's setback gave the red plate back to Millsaps.

Despite finishing in 2nd place, Villipoto had to work hard for that result. After starting the race in 4th, the defending champion challenged Chad Reed for position on lap 2, but went down on the track. He fell all the way back to 8th, having to work his way around the likes of Josh Grant, James Stewart, and Jake Weimer before joining up with the next group of riders. It was a strong result overall for Villopoto, who turned some fast laps, but, like last week's race, it wasn't a mistake-free performance. Coming off a 16th-place finish at Anaheim, he still has some ground to make up in the points standings. There's plenty of rounds left, but it's been a far cry from the dominant rider we saw in 2012.

At the other end of the spectrum was Ryan Dungey. It wasn't a good night for the Red Bull KTM rider, who had to earn a spot in the Main Event through the LCQ. In the Main Event, Dungey found himself at the back of the pack after crashing at the start of the race. Sitting 16th four laps into the race, he worked his way up to 8th by the end, but let valuable points slip away in the process.